Hello, Goodbye and Tigers?
by 2028
Summary: AU. No tigers were harmed in the making.


This started off sad and got happy and then got weird. I think there is not enough dialogue of Rick and Drew being together and just hanging out without their relationship being turned upside down and inside out. I love the emotional stuff but some character development wouldn't hurt anyone. That's where this started, wanting to write some character development surrounding a scene of them hugging in an airplane hanger. No tigers were harmed in the making.

* * *

"Okay" Rick strolling back towards him as if it wasn't only minutes before they would be separated. "I literally ten seconds before I have to be on a plane."

"That was poor planning on your part." Drew joked weakly.

Rick shrugged and let the stoic commander facade fade from his face and the scared husband reality replaced it.

"I'm glad you came to this." Rick murmured, meeting his eyes for a second, before glancing down.

"If you die, I'll kill you." Drew threatened, mainly as an alternative to crying. Rick reached out and took his hand, pulling Drew into a hug.

"That's both rude and redundant." Rick whispered.

"Deal with it."

"I was hoping you would say something a bit more friendly to me before I left."

"You should have married some sap then."

"Funny, I thought I did."

"Well, then you're an idiot."

"Drew, I know you're worried, but I have made it through a couple of these and I know what I'm doing. I'll be back."

"Make promises you can't keep and I might have to punch you in the ribs." Drew murmured emotionally, still holding onto Rick and expending an enormous amount of self control to keep from crying.

"I'll miss you. A lot. And I'll write: email. And it's not like we can't talk on the phone."

"Sorry, I'll changing my number as soon as I get out of here."

"And this deployment is shorter than the last one."

"As if I can't count."

"Drew" Rick said, pulling away but Drew didn't let him go anywhere and strengthened his hold around his husband's chest.

"Drew, I have to go." Rick said regretfully. Drew could hear the pain in his voice, knowing that he was making this harder, but— selfishly— he can't stop himself. He finally got to be the nervous, tearful relative at the gate, worrying about their soldier and squeezing every second out of the last encounter. Gone were the days of kissing in the parking lot and watching Rick disappear. Drew, however, thought that he was prepared for the panic he felt when Rick pulled away. He isn't. This setting made it worse; all the other families, barely concealing their panic only made it easier to give in to his emotions.

"Really. I'm sorry." Rick said, pulling his arms away from Drew's and putting his hands on Drew's shoulders. "I love you." Rick whispered softly.

"Shut up." Drew murmured against Rick's lips when they had broken apart. They existed only there for a second, before Rick looked over his shoulder.

"Wait." Drew said, reaching up and grabbing Rick's wrists. "I love you too. I…." There were a lot of words to describe how he felt and somehow not enough, words that could touch the surface but not express the depth of feeling.

"I know. Me too. See you when I get back."

Drew let his wrists go and nodded.

"Get out of here before I embarrass you in front of everyone." Drew warned in a voice that didn't quite make it to a joke.

Rick didn't answer, just took a second to reinstall the commanding expression and vanished, leaving Drew standing there, feeling empty without someone to hold. This time Drew didn't torture himself by waiting until the plane left. He didn't wait until the soldiers waved goodbye, he didn't wait the minutes while bags were loaded onto the plane. It all meant the same thing, that the person he loved, the person he wanted to spend all his time with was unavailable, traveling further and further away. None of it would stall the gut deep fear that that was the last time he would see his husband, that he would be widowed after only a year. Outside he might be composed, but inside he was shaking, and delaying the inevitable drive home would not stop that, so Drew turned his back on the scene and walked out. Being the first to leave, being the last, it didn't matter, it still hurt and worry still snuck in to be his shadow until Rick returned.

* * *

With one last barely contained groan, Drew made it to the man he would recognize anywhere and throw his arms around his neck.

Only after he did it, did he hear Rick talking to someone and he thought about pulling back, but Rick's bag dropped to the floor near his foot and his hand came up to grab Drew's arm so he stayed put.

"Captain, I'll let you go. Welcome home." Drew set his head on Rick's shoulder and destroyed whatever professional image his husband had managed to amass with the man by grinning ridiciously.

"Thank you, sir." Rick stood still for a second but as soon as the man turned around, Rick swung to throw his arms around Drew.

If they squeezed all the air out of each other's lungs so be it.

"Everytime I do that, I'm reminded how tall you are." Drew said.

"I'm not that much taller than you." Rick said, pulling away and taking both of Drew's hands. In response Drew pulled himself toward Rick who playfully pushed him away again and Drew ended their light wrestling match when he grabbed Rick again.

"I'm so glad you're home." Drew said, before burying his head in Rick's shoulder. "I missed you. It is entirely too quiet without you around."

"Can't say there was a lot of quiet, but I missed you too." Rick said, putting his chin on Drew much like his husband had a moment ago. "We had a layover and there was this store with all these stupid tourist things you like and I literally couldn't look at it too long because it reminded me of you." Drew laughed, ultimately flattened and glad Rick kept talking because if Drew had a chance to express the relief coursing through him, he might transform in a sobbing puddle and he tried not to do that in public.

"Don't tell anyone I say that." Rick spoke more softly in a way that made Drew grin. Keeping secrets hurt them in a lot of ways and it made their relationship harder, that they had to keep them, but knowing little details about Rick, like his very well hidden sappy side and his reason for absolutely loving July of 4th, delighted Drew.

"Deal. As long as you don't tell anyone we now own every James Patterson book ever written because I found them at a garage sell and I can't remember which ones you had already read and I was worried about you so somehow buying a bunch of books you like made me worry a little less." Rick laughed as Drew winced at his rabbling. Rick took Drew's hands in between them again.

"And you also can't tell them I have been reading them and trying to figure out what the hell you like about those books. I mean all the Alex Cross ones are the same, Micheal is clearly falling in love with the nanny and Lindsay's husband is spy for the CIA." Drew continued, trying to keep it together, despite the fact that he wanted to leap around in joy.

"Drew" Rick scolded lightly. "I haven't read that one yet."

"Well, news flash, he's a spy."

A smile had invaded Rick's whole face and the grin spread to Drew's. Either of them could not have stopped smiling if they tried.

"He has written like a hundred and fifty books. How did you carry that many books home?" Rick asked, mostly just to keep Drew talking; listening to his voice was a treat all of its own.

"Kenny. And Krista. And Topher. And TC." Rick eyed him. "They were being good to me while you were gone. More than usual. Actually started to freak me out a little " Drew said.

That made Rick sentimental and homesick for people he wasn't in charge, people who liked him and didn't need him to order them around. It particularly made him miss Drew, his one relationship that seemed to survive distance, time and place.

Mindful of their location and the fact that had he probably had another sixty seconds before he had to return to his responsibilities as a commanding officer, Rick pulled Drew toward him again, not that they had dropped hands.

"Military base in Louisiana." Drew muttered, only loud enough for him to hear, stepping forward as even as he said it.

"They're okay." Rick answered, before his lips' touched Drew's. Drew tensed a little, but reciprocated, pulling away after a couple seconds. A hint of discomfort flashed across his face but Drew smiled and set his shoulders. Rick took a step back, thankful Drew finally felt comfortable to be affectionate with witnesses and determined to pave over the nervousness.

"I should make sure my guys found their families. A couple of them had a long drive." Rick said, said picking up his bag and holding it out to Drew. "Come with me?"

"Why do I have to carry the bag?" Drew asked even as he took it from Rick's hand.

Reaching out with his left hand, Rick answered, lowering his voice. "If you have the bag, I can salute this hand and hold your's with the other. Come on." Drew flushed, ducked and nodded almost all in one motion, bumping their hips together.

"You come on." Drew throw the bag over his shoulder. "Where to first?"

It took about a half an hour and introducing Drew to countless members of his unit before they could get away. Rick had told this bunch about Drew from the beginning and the first weeks definitely could have been smoothier, but ultimately they found their normal and life went on. One woman, the sister of one of his youngest soldiers, hugged both of them and thanked them and her sister tugged her back and apologized to her commander. Taking it in stride, they both wished the family safe travels and moved on.

Moving out to the car, Drew threw Rick's bag in the back and started out of the parking lot.

"So I was thinking" Drew started, Rick looking at him and noticing that he had a shirt really similar to the one Drew had on. "It is a hundred and twenty-two degrees in San Antonio."

"Seriously?" Rick asked incredulously. "It's November."

"Yea, weather doesn't care. Setting records and everything." Rick felt the urge to turn on the air conditioner just thinking about that type of heat.

"So I have a proposal." Drew continued.

"We're already married." Rick interrupted, causing Drew to flash a friendly glare at him and reminding him that he could wear his ring again, due to the lack of shooting arms everyday in civilian life.

"Sorry" he said, reaching to pull the chain his dog tags off and retrieve his ring. Maybe not the safest place for it, but if he could fight in war, he could carry his wedding ring wherever he so pleased.

"I'm not working tonight or tomorrow. We don't have to go back to San Antonio right now."

Rick considered, putting his ring on his finger. "Yea, I don't have anything until the next SWAT class starts in January."

"Exactly." Drew said. "Also, there are power outages all over the place and you can never actually tell when you are going to have power so I might go to sleep in nice air conditioned air and wake up in a sauna." Drew said, displaying his frustration with the subject by tinting his head back and forward.

"How long has that been going on?" Rick asked, looking at Drew's hand on the wheel and noting that he wasn't wearing his ring; he couldn't wear it in surgery, so he carried it about with his dog tags too.

"A week." Drew exclaimed. "Too many people with huge home AC units, not that I can blame them."

"That explain why you are wearing my clothes?" Rick questioned, getting a second glance at the shirt.

Drew glanced down at himself and glanced in Rick's direction. "Yea, I have spend the last three days trying to finish the same load of laundry and finally I gave up. And I um…" Drew looked in the rearview mirror and Rick followed his glance only to see three duffle bags next to his. "I brought all my dirty clothes. We have to do laundry before we go home."

Rick opened his mouth but Drew interrupted him, defending himself. "The city closed all the unnecessary business with AC units two days ago. These are the highest heats in like two hundred years and the power grid can't handle it."

"Okay" Rick complacatingly. He reached over and pulled the chain off Drew's neck, sliding the ring off and putting it in his husband's hand at the next red light. When he had put his ring on, Drew noticed that he wasn't wearing his and given that he had glanced at Rick's ring twice since then, he wanted to be.

"Thanks" Drew said, when Rick leaned over and refastened the chain. In response, he planted a kiss next to Drew's ear.

"So where are we going?" he asked, resettling into his seat.

"I don't know." Drew answered and Rick narrowed his eyes. Drew didn't not know things; he was predictable, he was organized and he was spontaneous only on a schedule which had taken a few explanations before Rick understood.

Glancing over his shoulder again, Rick saw firewood. And a tent.

"There is firewood back there. It just happened to jump into the truck without you noticing?"

Drew shrugged. "I woke up really early this morning and I got your text and your contact photo is that one we took the last year when we're in Yosemite and it reminded me of the trip and that's when I got the idea for the trip. I figured having firewood could never hurt."

"Do you actually have a whole thing planned out and you just aren't telling me?"

"No" Drew said with force, softening his tone when he smiled. Rick decided to believe him.

"So…"

"So pick somewhere." Drew urged. "Keeping in mind that the more time we drive, the less time we have to roast food over a campfire."

Rick laughed. He wasn't completely shocked because they did travel on weekends together, a lot more when no one else knew about them and they wanted to escape. Now they did it because they travelled all around the country but unless they put an effort in, they never saw anything outside a military base.

"I did miss trees." Rick said, realizing that his phone was in his pack in the back. He reached over and borrowed Drew's.

"The pockets on this shirt are awesome." Drew said.

"You can't have it. Phone password?" Rick deadpanned.

"You know my phone password."

"You should really change it." Rick said, turning on the data and opening the internet app.

"What good would that do? You're the only one who knows it." Rick grinned at that and googled campsites with two hours of them.

There was a moment of silence and then Rick reached into the center console for a piece of paper.

"Drew?" Rick asking, finding one with numbers written neatly in rows and a square drawn around the last one. It closely resembled the budgets Drew had written for previous trips. "You wrote a budget for the trip but you didn't decide where we're going?"

Drew avoided eye contact. "I want to let you pick, but you know, try and stick within those numbers."

Rick stared at Drew for another second and looked down at the paper in his hand.

"Two hundred and fifty one dollars and eighty four cents. That is an awfully accurate number if you have no idea where we are going."

Drew groaned. "Flip the paper over." There was a list of parks on the back.

"They're just suggestions!" Drew said.

"Yup, right." Rick teased.

"Kinda, somewhat funny thing about the budget. We already have to stick to it, because that is all the money in my checking account." Rick was confused. They had just bought a house but they both worked full time and Drew especially was careful with money so they weren't rolling in it, but they aren't broke either.

"Okay. I also have a checking account and I have spend about twenty dollars in the last seven months."

Drew glanced at him. "Not according to our bank." Rick looked at him. "Did you buy a tiger and forget to tell me?"

Rick felt his face cease in confusion. "A tiger?"

"Or a rhino or perhaps an elephant?"

"No." He thought about it for a second, watching Drew smirk and then try not to smirk.

"Someone stole my atm card and bought a tiger? You can just walk into a store and purchase a tiger?" Rick asked sarcastically.

"No, they stole your card number. I checked; the physical card is still in your desk. Someone got your account number and went shopping."

"For a tiger?"

"Tiger food."

"Seriously?"

"Infused with cat nip."

"Are you messing with me? Because I'm pretty sure someone stealing my money is not funny."

Drew was laughing at him. "I'm sorry. I have spend so much time on the phone trying to convince people that you were out of the country and would never buy tiger food…." Drew broke off and leaned forward onto the steering wheel. Rick started making a contingency plan if Drew continued to laugh so hard he can't drive. "so much time that my only remaining options are to laugh or else I am going to jump through the phone and strangle them."

Rick did see the value in that but not wanting to admit that, he chose to continue glaring at Drew.

After a few more seconds Drew caught his annoyance and visually tried to stop laughing.

"Did someone really order tiger food? Do they have a tiger? Why do they need tiger food?" Rick asked in a tone that definitely wasn't amused, hoping the question wouldn't set Drew off again.

Drew managed to contain himself. "I don't know. Unless they have an indoor zoo and a bunch of illegal animals and one of their zebras also broke their tv. Because they also ordered a tv."

"Okay, pull over. We don't know where we're going and you look like you are going to hurt yourself with the laughing."

Drew continued to grin and it took about a minute to find a parking lot.

"What is the going rate for tiger food these days?"

"Depends whether you eat your tiger the good stuff or not. What do you think? Should our tiger eat only grass fed gazelle?" Drew had parked in the back of a shopping center, taken off his seat belt and turned to face Rick.

"Drew" Rick said, his voice raising a little without meaning it. "What happened to our money?"

"I moved all of what was left in your account into the joint one because I can't cancel your atm card because I have viewing privileges but I'm not the card holder. Then I realized that your card also has privileges for the joint account with the new chip thing so the bank froze that account. Without telling me so I can't get any of the money out. Which I realized early this morning and the bank will not answer their phone so hence the budget." Drew had finally calmed down and started to talk like a serious person.

However Rick decided two could pay at this game. "So, you made some extremely sketchy business deal and won't admit to it."

Drew started at him almost blankly.

"Because you have built an extremely convenient story as to why I can't access any of our money."

Disbelief started to appear on Drew's face and he looked affronted at the suggestion. "Rick! As if I would lie to you. Or enter sketchy business deals." Drew said, adding the second one as an afterthought but still looking insulted that someone could doubt his word.

"I'm just saying. Tiger food. With catnip. Is catnip even good for tigers?"

"I have no idea. I didn't buy it. Or make any sketchy business deals." Drew finished with feeling.

"Well tigers as pets are illegal in the US. What am I supposed to think?"

"That people who keep illegal pets are not all together concerned about following the law and therefore fund their underground zoos by nefarious means."

"Or you are really bad businessman."

Drew froze him in place with the glare but it didn't entirely work because a hint of a smile hovered on his mouth.

"Drew. I'm kidding. Obviously I believe you. So much of the money made it to the joint account before the bank went all Arctic circle on it?"

"Like six dollars."

Rick's stomach sunk. "There was a lot of money in that account."

"Yea, their total came out to almost five thousand dollars."

All the playness was gone. He, first of all, worked hard to earn that and it was rightfully his until he said otherwise and secondly people should not steal money he risked his life earning.

"Yea you see why I want to strangle the credit card company."

"Strangle the guy who stole it." Rick muttered.

"Yea. That was my first thought but then they send you to prison and it is hard to convince them you deserve the money back."

"Seriously the hell is wrong with people?" Rick blurt out.

"Apparently this happens all the time and they are constantly working on new security." That caused Rick to meet Drew's eyes with an "are you kidding me" expression.

"That was pretty much my reaction when they told me." Drew admitted, sounding more tired than he had at any point earlier in this conversation.

"So what do we do about it?" Rick asked.

"Wait until Monday then we can double team them on the phone."

"And until we just… do nothing?" He asked not liking the answer.

"Well, we hope that his illegal pet tiger eats him." A wary smile crossed his face, aware that probably an inappropriate punishment for credit card fraud.

"They're closed until Monday and the customer service people you get on the phone just have to go find the manager who isn't there on the weekends anyway." Drew explained.

"In better news, we have the 250 in my account and about a hundred dollars we had in cash."

"And how long does it take to unfreeze bank accounts?" Rick asked, needing a second before he could be persuaded to see the silver lining.

"They didn't say."

Drew continued when Rick didn't answer.

"Also I get paid on Wednesday so we just have to last until then."

"And in response to this situation you buy firewood?"

"Hey" Drew started. "We already owned the firewood and this could be a lot worse." Rick looked at Drew. "You could be dead. I could be dead." Rick had to give him that, especially considering how his last tour ended. "Plus the joint account is not actually gone, just locked up and we'll get it back. And we get to go camping because you are no longer halfway around the world."

"And the apocalypse is going down in San Antonio so we are avoiding it." Rick muttered, seeing a flash of disappointment across Drew's face that he had to be the cheerful one in this mess.

"On the bright side, I did manage to ride two buses and none of my limbs had to chopped off after." Rick tried.

"Always a good thing." Drew said, his tone humoring him and unless Drew had undergone a massive personality change in the last seven months, there was a little pride there too.

"And you look good in my clothes."

"There you go." Drew almost cheered, getting out of the car and coming around to open Rick's door. His husband grinned and held out his hand which Rick gladly took. Drew slammed the door and leaned into Rick's shoulder. "We have to grocery shopping before you can take them off me though."

Rick's tongue caught in his throat when trying to respond to that. Drew didn't talk that often but when he did he could back it up and it had been seven months. 210 days. A long time.

Generally Rick could convince himself that he wasn't a bumbling idiot but thinking about Drew sans clothing meant about a three second lag time.

"Why do we have to grocery shop? We just decided we are broke." He asked when he got his voice back.

"I'm hungry, all the food is our fridge spoiled with the inconstient electric." There was a half second pause. "I can wear your clothes but I can't eat you."

All feeling of attraction disappeared at that statement. "You are a horrible tease and I'll get you for it." Rick respond, not that it was difficult to rile either of them up at this point.

Pressing his hip into Rick's, Drew lowered his voice. "We are still in public." Then in a normal voice he declared. "To the apples."

Rick rolled his eyes, suppressed the urge to laugh and followed his dorky, very lovable husband.

* * *

So they walked around and tested Drew's will power in walking past every display in the place but medicine didn't pick faint hearted people and half an hour later they departed with bread, peanut butter, jelly, jerky and apples. They couldn't justify buying ice cream and promised themselves they could eat ice cream later.

Drew ate a sandwich and not Rick while the latter calculated the amount of gas required to get home and the cost of said gas. It gave them both flashbacks to high school dimensional analysis. After they recovered and ate an apple each, they realized they could not actually go camping but could afford to drive somewhere and do laundry. So they did. They eventually made it home, where Rick took off Drew's clothes that were actually his and Drew took off Rick's that were also actually his. After that they filled the bath tub with ice cubes and sat in it because the apocalypse had been to San Antonio, leaving behind 124 degree weather. And the customer service reps were so annoying, the steam coming out of their ears melted the ice. Then they got out and did other things that also involved steam but they melted each other's brains instead.


End file.
